How to stretch every cut #ZeroWasteKitchen #MenuEngineering #RestaurantProfit

25 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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1:08

Donald Burns shows how to build a restaurant menu that cuts waste and boosts profit. He prices steaks from the $40s to $70, uses trim scraps to make housemade beef salamis for a signature board, and keeps food waste nearly to zero through smart slow-cooking techniques.

Questions this video answers

$26

Around $70; some in their high $40s; some in their low $40s.

About $20–$30 in the bin for every $20,000 through the till.

Beef salamis (not pork) made from trim available from their beef.

Chapters

We have steaks on our menu that are in the $70 mark. They're dry aged. That's good. We have some that are in their high 40s. We have some in their low 40s. And then we have a cottage pie, which is a beef ragu, you know, 26 bucks in a steel ramekin mashed potato. You know, we cater for both ends a lot, as Ruth says. You know, the husband comes in and he orders the big steak and he's in it. And the wife says, I'm having a cottage pie because I'll look after the family budget. That's what we do. And we make all our own salami. So we actually make beef salamis, not pork salamis, because we have all the trim. And then that gets turned into a tasting cord, which is one of our signature sort of dishes, with four or five housemade salamis, a couple different types of terrine. And we really work through that, do a lot of slow cooking. So there's no wastage. So our wastage is like nothing like I'm. Yeah, we would probably put. For every 20,000 that goes through the till, we might put 20 or $30 in the bin. Like, we are really focused on that.